Open - The Scouter | Page 3

Moving into the cave, Freja was again reminded of just how thoroughly immersive Terrasphere made a point to making itself. There was more to it than just the graphics, though the transition from those vibrant, lush woods into this cold stone maw was a milestone in atmosphere by itself. She could hear the birdsong and the rustling of leaves that would grow more and more muted the deeper the party went in, the cave’s walls swallowing each crunching footstep against dirt and gravel. She could feel the fabrics of the garments her avatar wore, the weight of her axe, and the discomfort her hands expressed as they gripped the hard, dry, cracked leather. There was no way she could aptly describe the experience other than lifelike, and if not for the wisps of red hair that the cave’s draft occasionally brought to the corner of her eyes, perhaps it would have been easy to believe she was actually in the game’s setting, and not sitting comfortably in her own room, wearing a VR headset.

Perhaps that was why, once the earth began to rumble at her feet and the stone ceiling above the group began to buckle and collapse, her first instinct wasn’t to run out of the cave and back outside, under the assumption the others would respawn out with her should the worst come to pass, but instead grab anyone who might have been behind her—in this case, King and Portia— and hurriedly pull them forward, albeit deeper into those caves, and whirl around with an outstretched posture to have her body serve as a wall between the the party and the rubble, for what little that was worth. She winced as rocks fell, prepared for the worst.

Luckily, for all the din made, that moment never came. The echoes from the collapse fell silent, and eventually all Freja could hear was her own heavy breathing, and her drumming heartbeat.

“Shit,” she said, panting, “everyone alright?” She couldn’t help but feel silly for her attempted heroics; this was a game, she reminded herself, and she wasn’t playing a character built to sponge up damage. Now that adrenaline was starting to flow through her, she couldn’t help but let out a giggle to match Zaendal’s enthusiasm to mask her former panic. “Geez! You’d think whatever wants us to stick around would have rolled out the red carpet first.”

Rather than being forced to claw their way through the pitch dark that swallowed them, Emerath’s resourcefulness saw to it that their sight would not be lost for long. Yet as the makeshift light gained purchase, a deep hiss answered—its source, gigantic, inhuman.

Freja grabbed her axe and made ready to leap into the frontlines, but the brief shifting of cold, unearthed stone told her the creature, likely as taken aback by the blazing torch as the one who made it, had fallen back. But not far away.

She strained her eyes against the dark, and hiding within those tenebrous corners, she could make out a dark slate body and dull yellow belly supported by stout, almost crocodilian limbs. And then, as if realizing its camouflage had failed it, it lurched ever-so-slightly deeper into that darkness, hungry eyes leering back at her. From what little she saw, however, the beast was close to the size of an ambulance, and to jump straight for it would be like presenting herself as a free and easy meal. There was no doubt it would seek out the weakest, most isolated, amongst them, trying to pick them off one by one. As was to be expected of any predator.

And her primal instincts told her that even the light, which promised the group safety, would not be enough to keep the creature at bay for much longer. She made note of the two tunneling paths that the torch revealed, and especially the one where the beast had hidden itself away, primed to ambush.

“. . . Whatever company we’ve got, it’s big, it’s definitely not friendly, and it’s just ahead,” Freja said, motioning her axe in the direction of the tunnel which the creature had skulked into, its blade dully reflecting the torchlight. “Reptilian from what I could see, and it blends in stupidly well in here. Whatever it is we do, it looks like we’ll all have to pitch in. If it’s in the starting area, we should be able to fight it off.”

Action: Detect Primeval Stalker
67
Roll​

 

Even with the cave collapsing all around them and @Freja Sitka's amazing show of bravery, where she pulled both him and Portia to safety, King found it hard to react. Indeed, he was still focused on where porcelain fingers had graced his skin, from his temple to his scalp. A healthy blush of pink dusted his cheeks as, in classic anime schoolgirl moves; he lifted two fingers to his untouched lips. She had called him a good boy! Him!

At least in the darkness, nobody would be able to see his shy gestures. A thick swallow and a small patting off of his body as he contemplated what this could mean for him. Was she hitting on him? Flirting back? She was cute…

Light flooded the cave and King snapped to attention, no longer blushing or grinning like a fool (at least, not too much of a fool). His eyes darted to that damned lying brat, Goggles Boy, and he frowned. While the man had lied about there being a barrier to keep him out, it seemed the man had his uses as a human torchbearer. His eyes then flicked over to Freja – brave and beautiful, and trying so hard to stay strong. He frowned. "Are you ok—?"

He heard it too. The inhuman hiss of something slithering and sliding, a soft growl of a warning. There was a monster and they were its prey.

King looked back to the collapsed wall, sucking in a shallow breath through quivering teeth. There was no way out except through. Perhaps they could try knocking the rocks down, tossing it aside with their strength. But that would risk an absolute collapse of the cave. Plus the others seemed eager to fight whatever the heck that was, and quite frankly, King didn't want to be outdone. Couldn't be outdone.

"Stand back!"

He had to be brave too! He had to fight!

"HIIIIIIIIIIIII—" he shot forward, hands firmly wrapped around his sword as he leapt at the reptilian creature Freja had pointed out, "—YAAAAH!"

It should've been easy. His blade, held in front of him in a wide slashing arc, poised to stab and slash. Perhaps jumping for that awesome look had been a mistake, the source of his downfall. It had made it impossible to dodge the black tongue that slammed into his side and sent him careening into rock. That should've been that, but the tongue was firmly wrapped around his torso. "Yuck!" he managed to whine, only for the wet appendage to tug and smash him into another wall.

"FUUUU-OW!"

Action: SWISH SWASH DOIN' A SLASH
47
(Roll) The Scouter​

 

The earth shook, then there was shouting, and then a burst of light--and then an ungodly amount of screaming and hissing going on behind her.

She didn't even need to look to know that all hell had broken loose, but she did anyway.

As she made her way down the path and around the corner, she made out the hulking, shadowy form of... something that she didn't even need to put two fingers to her noggin to identify as something she should run away from and find a good spot to hide further into the cave.

And yet... that's exactly the opposite of what she did.

Her footsteps echoed against the earthen walls as she drew closer and closer to the commotion. Rounding the corner, she caught the tail end of King being hoisted into the damp air by the monster's long, slimy tongue and whipped against the side of the cave.

"I feel like--" she began, a note of hesitation in her voice. "...I feel like I should do something here."

Yes, the sliver of good inside her conscience chimed in. Yes, you should.

Frantically flicking open her palm menu, she silently mouthed the options as she looked for a way to rescue Creepy Abs Guy. Trying to recall if she had been dropped in with any sharp implements, she remembered that she picked Fisticuffs as one of her three Masteries. Rolling up and punching a giant cave... monster... thing in its... cloaca? seemed like terrible effing idea, especially when it could respond by wrapping her up in its lengthy, slimy, stinky tongue and completely ruin her hair and outfit.

Madison eventually found herself at the Spell menu, and pressed a finger to it.

A fresh wave of shouting and protests from King tore through the air.

"Yeah, yeah," the witch cursed under her breath. "I'm working on it, you ass."

After seconds that passed like minutes, she found herself in her Black Magic sub-menu. Madison pounded a key labeled Assist Mode, and hit the first blinking option she found.

The game seemingly took control of her body as the menu closed and her spidery hands shot into her pockets. Pulling out an incredibly plain and worn set of cards, she automatically shuffled them up a couple times and drew three. Madison--or the game forced Madison to whip them into the air. The cards spun in place, igniting in purple flame as the spell drew its strength from the world around them.

A quick, brilliant violet flash blinded her as the spell was cast--and completely missed the beast by a solid five or ten feet. The bolt of energy arched over its tongue and crashed harmlessly against the far wall of the cavern.

The only tangible effect it had was capturing the stupid thing's attention.

Madison immediately felt like she had made a huge, terrible mistake.

Action: Cast a spell to rot the thing's tongue
14
(Roll) The Scouter​

 

With the way "forward" illuminated, the group essentially charged head-first toward the new ferocious creature standing before them. That was fine with Zaen, taking on a challenge was the entire reason he took on games like this one. Or at least he assumed. Still pretty early to tell. With that said, this one beast of fair size and mobility both seemed to be a bit much for the group of new players.

As the man in the metal suit, Zaendal had wanted to be the front line, but King made sure to make his point rather thoroughly about his bravado. Unable to connect with his attack, he became instead a living projectile aimed at the mage of the group. Sadly, there wasn't anything he could think to do to stop that; he was already a fair couple of strides past her and the man-bullet was just over his head. Hopefully the woman had enough sense to jump out of the way. As their foe reared back and hissed once more, moving to camouflage itself with its surroundings once more, Zaen leaped forward, shield-first, in an attempt to disorient it.

Alas, fate was a fickle mistress.

As he leapt forward, the young man watched the creature jump to the side, rendering his attempt useless. Worse yet, he lost sight of it as well as it seemed to blend into the cavern walls. The hissing, however, escalated. If it wasn't before, it was clearly angry now. Zaen slid to his knees, unable to regain his footing after lunging forward so violently, and as he attempted to stand up, he was hit in the back by what felt like a baseball. He hurtled to the ground, sliding slightly as he realized there was some wetness to his armor now as well.

"Son of a... it SPIT ON ME!" Shouting into the dirt would muffle the sounds, but hopefully someone maintained vision. This was not looking good for the group of beginners so far.

Action: Stun the Stalker with a shield bash.
46
(Roll) The Scouter​

 

At least none of them would say the game wasn't packed with surprises of many kinds.

Her shoulders tensed and her breath caught as Freja's hand clamped around her own, pulling her deeper into the cave's path with alarming speed to shove both King and herself out of harm's way. She made it a point to remember to properly express her gratitude to the ax-wielding girl seeing how muttering simple words wouldn't do the gesture the justice it deserved.

Portia didn't like darkness. It wasn't a disliking based on the pitiful stories she had heard on her childhood nor her inability to perceive what awaited them inside the Beginner's cave with every step they took. It was in the way it dulled her senses in real life, a sensation she could never get used to, and now it came back to her inside a game to which she had signed up for fun. Gladly, it didn't last far longer than mere minutes thanks to one of Emerath's invention: a useful item that returned their sight yet revealed the danger lurking ahead.

Every other member of the group took their turns in confronting the vicious monster standing less than twenty paces away from where the group stood. Everyone did what their masteries allowed, and failed in so doing, amount of experience be damned. First King, then Madison, and the tank of their group, Zaen. By the time it was time for her to give it a try, her index finger hovered over a certain ability from the Martial Arts' list of skills, which she pressed in order to begin the attacking sequence.

''Okay, here goes nothing...'' Perhaps by the time she had landed a blow on the Stalker, the veteran would have figured out some way to counter its abilities, but even the male seemed surprised at this turn of events. As if controlled by puppetry, her fists balled in front of her face in movements previously designed by the game's system, making the girl burst into a run into the beast's vicinity, one of her fists snapping back with the sole purpose of concentrating every ounce of energy and strength possible in it.

And, as luck would have it, she became the next one to go down. Before her fist connected against the monster's jaw in an attempt to incapacitate its mouth, it moved to escape her blow, striking the girl's chest with enough force to send her flying against a nearby wall. Too reckless had her decision been to think she could take it on her own, too slow to even react to the incoming attack in a proper way and avoid some damage at the very least.

She too fell to the ground when the system finished controlling her every movement in order to perform the desired action, a thud and a low grunt to announce her failure as she dropped to the ground next to the Stalker's previous victims. Just like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Action: Get some time! (Attack)
26
Roll (The Scouter)
​

 

Emerath watched as everyone fell victim to the reptilian monstrosity. Only Freja hadn't gone in and gotten crushed by the beast, having been the one to point the others at it. This just wouldn't do. The newbies needed to succeed. Emerath was more than impressed by their bravado, even with King. Despite his machismo, he had still stepped up to the plate where it counted, and Emerath could respect that.

"Alright everyone!" Emerath shouted to the group still reeling from their mishaps in battle, "Time to get serious! If you want to crush this thing, then crush it! I've got your back, so don't be afraid! I've got faith in you! Even you, King!"

But he wasn't just spouting wind. Emerath took his wrench torch in his mouth, the fire nearly burning his cheek from the proximity of it. He didn't care, as he pulled out his Rainbow in the Dark, and began to play for the group, his fingers moving around the instrument in a frenzy, the electric sound blasting into the small space like it was coming from all sides. He didn't bother talking, he let the music do that for him. He hoped that the magic was enough to get them on their feet and back in the game.

((OOC: The music))

Action: Support the team! Get the newbies hype to BATTLE!
N/A​